Tea Party commissioner won’t run again

Controversial Island County Commissioner Kelly Emerson, a prominent leader in the state’s Tea Party movement, has told followers she will not seek a second term next year.

Emerson has enjoyed a tumultuous tenure, once suing Island County after she and her husband were informed they were violating building codes and critical area ordinances. “It doesn’t seem like we’re living under the same Constitution I was born under,” she said when the suit was dismissed.

“Emerson has been under scrutiny since she was named the chairwoman of the board earlier this yea, and then stripped of her title in June after commissioners questioned her work ethic, ability to lead and willingness to proceed according to board consensus,” the South Whidbey Record reported.

Emerson was a founder of a group called Renew Liberty, representing the Tea Party movement in Snohomish and Island Counties.

At an Everett Tax Day rally in 2010, she delivered a fiery speech that rewrote American history, arguing that the economic policies of President Warren G. Harding brought prosperity to America and blaming Franklin D. Roosevelt for “getting us into” the Great Depression.

Emerson cited personal reasons for her decision not to run.

“For nearly my entire term in office thusfar, this wretched economy has forced my husband distances far too great to commute daily to work,” she wrote. “Nearly three years of a weekend marriage has deprived this young couple of much time together.”

“Thank you for the opportunity and please know that I will continue the fight to restore this once great country,” she added.

Karla Jacks, a Camano Island civil activist and Chamber of Commerce leader, has already announced her candidacy for Emerson’s seat as a Democrat.

Emerson came close to inadvertently ending her tenure in mid-term. She tried to re-register to vote at an Oak Harbor residence. The county auditor informed Emerson that by moving legal residence out of her Commissioner district, she would have to resign her office.